


Lady Luck

by KennaM



Series: Lady Luck and Blackout [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Drugs, Gen, Murder, Poison, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 03:46:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5896948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KennaM/pseuds/KennaM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teenage assassin Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and her mentor Tikki, stop a drug deal before it even happens.</p>
<p>Marinette-centric drabble for my assassins AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lady Luck

Marinette perched on the edge of her bed to lace up her black combat boots, then checked the contents of her satchel before wrapping the belt around her waist twice and locking it into place. Cold air sank into the room from the open skylight above her.

Her mother’s face appeared at the trap door on her floor. “Are you going out?” she asked. Marinette nodded pointedly towards to skylight.

“Tikki left a note,” she said, “so it looks like I’ve got a job tonight.”

Her mother simply nodded in understanding. “I wish she gave us more warning,” she said, and then, before Marinette could reply, asked, “How long do you think this one will take?”

Marinette adjusted the belt at her waist to sit better, and absently pulled the hems of her exercise pants down over the tops of the boots. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “I’ll definitely be late for dinner.”

“I’ll save you a plate,” her mother said. She took a step down the staircase, then turned back to her daughter and added, “Good hunting. Stay safe.”

Marinette smiled at her mother, and fastened her poison capsule earrings into place. “Thanks, mom,” she said.

Her cropped jacket hung from one of the rungs that led up out the skylight, with her black mask tucked into the front pocket. Marinette shrugged the jacket on, enjoying the sudden warmth on her shoulders, and pulled the zipper up halfway over her chest. Cut short, the jacket gave her easy access to her bag of tricks. The deep red shoulder patches also stood out sharply from the inky black material, and always helped distract her targets for those crucial seconds.

Marinette left the mask sticking awkwardly out of the pocket while she tied her hair back into two tight pigtails. Her hair always got in the way otherwise, and with it pulled into pigtails the trailing ends of her mask ties could flow freely behind her. She enjoyed that feeling perhaps a bit too much. The mask was thick leather, stitched to look like the kind of thing people wore to masquerades. Marinette had sewn in the small blood red gemstones on her own, against her mentor’s wishes.

Mask tied in place, Marinette finally pulled on her gloves and scaled the ladder to her roof. The sun had set an hour ago and the sky was still getting darker, but Marinette could see the city around her with no problem. Buildings jammed together in winding patterns made navigating by rooftop easy, and she had run this path too many times to count.

She met Tikki at their usual spot, silhouetted against the Eiffel Tower lights. The older woman didn’t turn as her protégé approached, but Marinette knew her presence hadn’t gone unnoticed, and waited to speak.

“It’s good to see you well, Ladybug,” Tikki said, her voice muffled slightly by the full-face mask she wore. She didn’t have to wear it – Marinette knew her face – but it meant she’d be joining whatever mission was lined up for tonight.

Black Cat wasn’t around though, which meant Marinette could leave the voice modifier in her satchel. “Are Black Cat and Plagg joining us?” she asked. The last time the four of them had worked together on a kill had been years ago. Tikki shook her head, and finally turned to meet Marinette’s eyes.

“Your partner’s a bit… preoccupied, this evening,” she said, “which is why I’m joining you tonight.” Marinette nodded and tried to stop from fidgeting.

“Is it Hawkmoth?” she asked, trying not to sound too excited. She had worked on kills alone before, she didn’t have to be supervised – unless perhaps this one was different.

“No,” Tikki said. “Just another one of his butterflies.” Marinette couldn’t help the way her shoulders slumped.

“Oh.”

“Even one butterfly can deal a lot of damage,” Tikki said. “Don’t be so disappointed.”

“Of course,” Marinette quickly said, and squared her shoulders. “Just tell me who it is, and I’ll deal with them.”

Marinette couldn’t see Tikki’s smile behind that mask, but she could hear it in her voice as she began to outline the plan, and she could see it in her eyes as they sparkled with pride.

They were to track a butterfly – Tikki’s term for the Akuma dealers – before they could enter a party to distribute. “A private gala at the Agreste estate, actually,” Tikki clarified, and Marinette sucked in a breath. Her mentor tilted her head slightly. “Yes, Ladybug?”

“Nothing,” Marinette said quickly. “I… I just know the Agreste boy. He’s in my class.”

“Of course,” Tikki said, nodding. Though she lived in a different world from them, Marinette knew the other students in her high school class well. These were the kids she was hoping to protect, with her work as an assassin.

An Akuma dealer distributing to any of her classmates would hit too close to home, but this was… different. Not that Marinette could tell Tikki. Having a crush was embarrassing enough, without the heavy knowledge that she could never drag Adrien into the family business. He’d probably hate her, if he knew.

Marinette ignored the hammering in her chest, and stood firm. “Where do we find this butterfly?” she asked.

-*-

They cornered the Akuma dealer behind the Agreste estate, watching from a nearby rooftop as the dealer tried to sneak in the back door. It turned out to be a woman, wearing a dress Marinette couldn’t see under her long winter coat, waiting for the wait staff to leave the door unguarded so she could slip inside.

There were too many witnesses – no way to make the kill without being seen – so they had to be fast and slip away just as quickly back into the shadows. Marinette dropped down to the ground first, making just enough sound to get the woman’s attention. She turned just as Tikki landed behind Marinette, and stumbled back in shock.

“Shh,” Marinette said. She took only a step forward, and reached out for the woman’s neck. The dart concealed in her palm pressed into the woman’s vein, distributing the poison directly into her bloodstream, and Marinette’s free hand clamped down over the woman’s mouth just as she was about to scream.

Tikki rushed forward as Marinette felt strength leaving the woman’s body. She was dying, held upright by Marinette’s hands as Tikki searched her body for the hidden bag of Akuma, sinking slowly forwards and staring into the eyes of her killer. Marinette passed the weight over to Tikki once she found the Akuma.

“They’ve seen us but they aren’t suspicious yet,” Tikki said, nodding to the wait staff outside the estate doors. She pressed the small plastic bag into Marinette’s hands. “Hurry; destroy it.”

Marinette produced small vial of clear solution from her satchel. She poured two drops into the bag, waited a moment for the mixture to fizzle, then dropped it onto the floor and returned the vial to her satchel.

Akuma destroyed, Tikki slowly lowered the woman’s body to the ground. Marinette didn’t wait to be told before blending back into the shadows, disappearing into an alleyway and scaling the fire escape of the neighboring building. She could hear her mentor following her, and she could hear the shouts of surprise as the wait staff realized, all too late, what had happened.

Every instinct in Marinette’s body told her to run, to flee the scene as quickly as possible, but she paused for just a moment on the rooftop. Across the street she could see into the large full-length windows of the Agreste estate, at the gala being held inside. If she looked closely enough she could just make out the shock of blond hair she knew was Adrien Agreste, completely unaware of what was taking place outside his home.


End file.
